Lonzo Ball won’t have long to dwell on his scoreless night opposite Damian Lillard. Exactly 24 hours after his Los Angeles Lakers tipped off their 113-110 Thursday night loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in Rip City, the rookie out of UCLA will be back on the court—this time at Staples Center, opposite a vengeful D’Angelo Russell and the Brooklyn Nets.

Ball was taken No. 2 in the 2017 NBA draft by the Lakers, in part, to fill Russell’s spot at point guard. L.A. dealt the latter to Brooklyn that same June 22, along with Timofey Mozgov, in a deal that brought back Brook Lopez and the first-round pick that became Kyle Kuzma. The next day, Magic Johnson, the Lakers’ president of basketball operations, praised Russell for his talent and thanked him for his two years of service while more than insinuating a lack of leadership that Zo’s arrival was meant to address.

Magic Johnson on D’Angelo Russell: "We want to thank him for what he did for us. But what I needed was a leader.” Full quote: pic.twitter.com/3FhPthOpN1

So far, Russell has made that trade worth Brooklyn’s while. Through seven games, he’s averaged 21.7 points on 46.6-percent shooting with 4.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists—all career highs—while hitting 34.3 percent of his threes. He opened his Nets career with 30 points against the Indiana Pacers, dropped 29 on the Orlando Magic six days later and torched the Phoenix Suns for 33 points on Halloween.

Given all the external factors at play when Russell returns to L.A. Live, it seems safe to bet on him gunning for a big night against the new kid on his old block.

Not that Ball is going to play matador to Russell’s mad bull. Through eight games, the Crown Prince of Chino Hills has shown himself to be a capable defender, with the lateral footwork and instincts to stick with some of the NBA’s top point guards and the hops and timing to block shots and deflect passes.

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Whatever points Russell scores at Ball’s expense will have to be earned, just like the share of Lillard’s 32 points that came with the 20-year-old on his hip.

Lonzo will have his own opportunities to ball out against his predecessor in Purple and Gold. For all his offensive prowess, Russell was a routinely poor defender in L.A. and has remained so in Brooklyn. According to NBA.com, Russell sports the worst defensive rating (117.2) of any Net currently in head coach Kenny Atkinson’s rotation.

Perhaps D’Angelo will show out on that end in an effort to show up the team that drafted him out of Ohio State in 2015. Maybe he’ll be ripe for roasting by Ball, who could hardly be any less assertive than he was against the Blazers.

Or, Brooklyn could sic a more reliable perimeter defender—like, say, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Caris LeVert or Allen Crabbe—on Lonzo. Likewise, L.A. may look to hide Ball on one of the Nets’ wings at times, and assign Brandon Ingram and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to pester Russell.

Either way, get your popcorn ready and follow along with LonzoWire on Twitter, using #LonzoLive, starting at 7:30 p.m. PT.

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